Researchers say they have uncovered new disk-wiping malware that is disguising itself as ransomware as it unleashes destructive attacks on Israeli targets.
Ars Technica
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Apostle, as researchers at security firm SentinelOne are calling the malware, was initially deployed in an attempt to wipe data but failed to do so, likely because of a logic flaw in its code. The internal name its developers gave it was “wiper-action.” In a later version, the bug was fixed and the malware gained full-fledged ransomware behaviors, including the ability to leave notes demanding that victims pay a ransom in exchange for a decryption key.
In a post published Tuesday, SentinelOne researchers said they had determined with high confidence that, based on the code and the servers Apostle reported to, the malware was being used by a newly discovered group with ties to the Iranian government. While a ransomware note the researchers recovered suggested that Apostle had been used against a critical facility in the United Arab Emirates, the primary target was Israel.
“The usage of ransomware as a disruptive tool is usually hard to prove, as it is difficult to determine a threat actor’s intentions,” Tuesday’s report stated. “Analysis of the Apostle malware provides a rare insight into those kinds of ..
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